MER - Washington - 10/6/97:

He's been used very badly since he headed the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid conference in 1991,
and then the subsequent "Washington talks" that continued for the next two years.

When Arafat secretly agreed to the Oslo formulations and then quickly came to Washington with Rabin
for the White House ceremony, Haidar Abdel-Shafi quietly left for Chicago.  He didn't speak up, hold a
press conference, or publicly challenge what was taking place.  He simply refused to attend, unlike his
deputy Hanan Ashrawi and most of the other members of the Palestinian negotiating delegation.

Now, finally, with Abdel-Shafi's resignation from the Palestinian Legislative Council a few days ago, the
whole carefully choreographed facade of Palestinian "elections" and "democracy" has crumbled still
further.  The Arafat regime police-state that now exists within the ongoing Israeli occupation stands
considerably more naked as a result.